


The Lab Job

by ThatPilotGirl



Series: The Old Guard provides...Leverage [1]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Leverage Fusion, Everyone swears, Leverage AU, Multi, Sorry?, Thanks, just read it, like a lot, please?, wow i love both of these works a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:47:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26184439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatPilotGirl/pseuds/ThatPilotGirl
Summary: The leverage AU that I'm pretty sure people besides me asked for?Featuring: Andy as The Mastermind, Joe as The Grifter, Nicky as The Thief, Nile as The Hitter, and Booker as The Hacker
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Pre-Relationship - Relationship
Series: The Old Guard provides...Leverage [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1925197
Comments: 14
Kudos: 56





	The Lab Job

**Author's Note:**

> I own neither TOG or leverage. If I continue this, I have roles for plenty of other people already thought out...

"You have 5 seconds to tell me what you want."

The man who had just sat down next to her audibly gulped.

"My name is Steven Merrick. I want, no, I need your help."

"Hmm." Andy sipped her vodka. "And why would I give it to you?"

"Because I can pay you?"

"I don't need the money."

"It's the right thing to do."

Andy hadn't turned her head since he sat down, but the bar had a mirror for a backsplash so she had been able to look at the man anyways. Little over average height, skinny white boy with a pointy chin and a British accent. Hoodie over a t-shirt, both designer. She turned now, looking him dead in the eye.

"Everyone thinks their cause is just. You think you're the one who's right?"

"My company, Merrick Pharmaceuticals, is about to bring a new cancer drug to the market. Priced at cost so it's accessible. But our rivals, Jenner, have stolen the research. All of it. They're going to blow up the price, make billions, and sacrifice countless lives. I need you to steal the information back for me."

"How do you know it's Jenner who stole the designs?"

"My lead from the team Dr. Kozak went missing. One week later, Jenner announced the drug. It can't be a coincidence."

"And you want to risk a theft? Just sue the fuckers," she answered, turning to face the backsplash again and signaling the bartender for another drink.

"There's a shareholders meeting at the end of the month. If I don't have the research to present, I'm screwed. Please. Look at who I've already hired."

Merrick made a move as if to put a hand on her shoulder, but aborted the movement-smart man-to put his hand into his messenger bag. He withdrew it with a stack of files, which he slid over to her. She flipped through them. OK, now he had her attention.

"You got Nicky, you got Booker, you got...you got Nile."

"Is there someone better?" Merrick asked.

"No, but Nile is fucking nuts."

"So I've heard. But that's why I need you."

"Absolutely not. They work alone, all of them do."

"For 300 grand each they'll work together. Double to you to run it."

"I'm not a thief. And I'm retired"

"Miss Sythian. All I'm asking is for one last job. At your peak, you consulted for museums, companies, everyone. You could walk in and walk out with whatever you wanted. You taught them how to overhaul their whole systems. Nobody could get past them. Don't you want to know you still could? I've got the young guns. All I need is someone with experience to keep everyone on track. Someone honest. And, a bonus. Copley Security, your old bosses, do security for Jenner. Don't you want to prove that they were wrong to let you go?"

Andy sighed, stared at her own reflection, then downed her drink. She turned to Merrick.

"Fuck it. Sure."

* * *

A week later, Andy found herself on the twentieth floor of the building across from Jenner Pharmaceuticals.

"Clear coms?"

"Christh this shit is old" came Booker's voice over the line, "I've got better stuff, hang on. Not pulling a job on best of the 80's gear."

"No surprises now...and you're not slurring are you?"

"No Ma'am. But trust me, we can do better than this. Bone conduction earpiece mike, works off of vibrations in the jaw."

Booker handed a piece to Nicky, who took a break from adjusting the straps on his harness to put it in.

"You gonna give me one of those?"

Nicky watched Booker calculate how many bullets he would get for giving Nile a once over. He seemed to very nearly decide it would be worth it before he handed over a mike instead. She gave a jerk of her head in thanks, before returning to her patrol of the roof.

"That woman is 20 types of terrifying." Nicky observed.

"You know I can hear-"

"We're gonna go on my count." Andy interjected before the heist could devolve into bickering.

"Five...Four...Three...Two..."

As she hit one, Nicky's feet left the rooftop. She tracked his descent, watching as he hung in mid-air to break in through the window of the building. Meanwhile, Nile and Booker were creeping in through the roof hatch, ending up on top of one of the elevators.

"Any time now," Nile snapped through the coms.

Andy was prepped to break up a fight, but apparently Nicky had gotten to the server room and hotwired the elevator. It moved just after Nile's pronouncement. A quick check of security told them they were still in the clear as Booker began to hack the lock, and Andy nodded to herself. Good, this was good.

No sooner had she come to that conclusion did she realize something was wrong. Eight guys on the duty roster, four at the guard post. Shit. A quick scan of the cameras revealed that the other four were doing their walk through early. Why?

"It's the playoffs." she observed, "They probably don't want to miss a game."

"Well whatever the reason, they're in the stairwell." Nicky countered.

"Ok. We can work with this. Nicky, squelch the coms. Nile, clear the area. Booker,"

"I'm the bait." he finished for her.

"Yep."

He muttered unhappily to himself as the machine continued to break the encryption on the door. Still, 300 grand was 300 grand. He was about to just say screw it anyways when the choice was taken from him by the arrival of the guards.

"Hands up, drop the bag."

He did so, but Nile was coming up behind the guards anyways. She made short work of them, all four hitting the ground before his supplies did.

"20 kinds of terrifying?"

"21."

That got a half smile out of her, just as the door to the server room clicked open behind them. Booker hustled inside and started stripping the drives while Nile tugged the bodies of the knocked-out guards in after them.

"Talk to me guys," Andy interjected.

Booker gave her a status update, but the successful completion of the mission was hindered by Nicky's announcement.

"Those guards you just dealt with reset all of the alarms going up. You're stuck there."

"Fuck that. Every man for himself" Nile responded.

"Go ahead, I have the merch," Booker answered.

"And I'm the one with an exit." Nicky countered.

"Well I'm the one with a plan." Andy announced decisively, "And if you can manage to hold it together for exactly seven more minutes, I'll let you in on it. Now get to the elevators and head down. I packed you for the burn scam."

By some miracle, they were on the same floor and Nile and Booker only had to hold the elevator for a few seconds for Nicky. The three of them stripped down efficiently with Nicky and Booker pointedly looking away from Nile while she stripped. God knew she'd probably find some creative way of inverting their kneecaps if one of them accidentally caught an eyeful. Once dressed, they applied prosthetic burns to Nile's face, as well as a cast to her leg. A crutch completed the look, and they limped her past the guards to Andy, waiting in the driver's seat of the getaway car. Booker was able to make the file transfer in the car, and Andy dropped them all off at their separate locations. No conversation needed.

* * *

Andy was awoken by the shrill ringing of her cell, and a very upset Merrick on the other end.

"I got screwed. The designs aren't here."

"I watched the transfer happen."

"Whatever you watched, it wasn't that."

"I told you not to trust them!"

"It wasn't my job to! Please Miss Scythian. That's what I had you for! Counteracting people like this...that's your area of expertise! I'm going to need to freeze the payments."

"I'll be there soon, we'll work this out," Andy attempted to reassure him.

"We can't do this at the offices, the shareholders will go mad! There's an old lab outside of the city. I'll text the address, meet me there in an hour."

He hung up, and Andy briefly considered just going back to bed. Instead, she pulled on a tank top and jeans, yanked a trench coat over the whole thing, and headed for the old lab.

Once she arrived, she could hear the other three already bickering. Booker and Nicky both had guns pulled on Nile, who looked entirely unperturbed. Still, this was not an ideal way to have a conversation about whatever the fuck had gone wrong.

"Hey!" Andy hollered.

"Did you do it?" Nile demanded, "You're the only one who's ever played both sides."

"You're pretty relaxed for a woman with two guns pointed at her."

Nile raised her eyebrows, but didn't dignify the comment with another response. Fair.

"You don't have one?"

"I don't like guns."

"Alright then. Perhaps everyone else should follow that lead."

Reluctantly, Booker and Nicky put their weapons back in their waistbands.

"So." Andy commented, re-railing the conversation, "Would you come here to get paid?"

"I was expecting a funds transfer." Booker replied, shaking his head.

"I was never supposed to see any of you again," Nile agreed.

"So the only reason you guys are here is that you're not...getting..."

Andy didn't need to finish her sentence before all four of them were sprinting for the exit, Nile yanking Booker up when he tripped over the stairs and Andy shoving the other three out of the building before she followed.

The last thing she remembered was heat.

* * *

"You don't like hospitals." Nicky observed, pacing the room, as Andy woke up with a start and a rattle of the handcuff attaching her to the bed.

"Not much." Andy agreed, "What happened? Where are we?"

"Local police and fire responded to the explosion, got there just as we were waking up. Took us to county hospital" Nicky replied, still pacing and ignoring both Nile and Booker rattling their still-chained wrists at him.

"Have we been processed?"

In response, Nile wiggled her fingers at them, fingers inky black.

"How long do we have?" Nicky asked.

"30-35 minutes assuming they faxed the prints to state." Booker answered.

"They processed us 20 minutes ago" Nile stated, flat.

A plan started to take shape in Andy's mind. 10 minutes to get out of here. She ignored the headache forming from the explosion, and the fact that Booker seemed to have one too while Nile and Nicky were fine.

"Nicky, get me a phone. We're getting out of here together," she hollered.

"This was a one time deal! If I-"

"If nothing." Andy cut Nile off. "Each of you knows what you can do. I know what you all can do. I got you out of Jenner right? You trust me?"

"You're an honest woman Andy" Nile replied.

Good enough.

"Nicky, get me that phone!"

One round of intentional puking later, Nicky was on the phone with the sheriff's office guy assigned to watch them while Booker texted a picture of herself to the hospital's fax line. One fake statie, one fake FBI agents, and one brief incident where Andy was sure Nile would murder Booker and they'd all be made was all it took to send them off in a cruiser. They drove the car about a mile from the hospital, then ditched it to walk the rest of the way to...wherever Booker was leading them.

It turned out to be a loft downtown, with a massive TV, several couches, a pool table, and a wet bar which Booker headed straight for. Whiskey in hand, he began typing at his computer.

"Four tickets to anywhere but here, coming right up," He commented, "And I'm gonna spam every account Merrick has with unblockable porn. and viruses."

"I'm going to beat that man so badly people who look like him are going to bleed." Nile contributed,

"You're not going to get within 100 yards, he knows your face." Nicky countered.

"He tried to kill us!"

"He didn't pay us."

"Why is that your priority?!?"

Nile shrugged. "I take that personally."

Booker interrupted their conversation.

"Merrick knows all of our faces. But we don't know all about him. He is the head of a pharmaceutical company, and Jenner is the main rival. But according to my webcrawlers, he lied about the rest. Jenner is the one who developed the drug, and was planning to distribute at cost. Merrick..."

"Merrick stole the designs for profit and used us to do it." Andy spat out.

On Booker's screen, a man, Jenner presumably, was near tears as he explained to the cameraman how much time and grant money had gone into the project. How many lives were going to be saved. How much they were going to help the world, and what a loss this was.

"Why though" Booker asked, sipping the whiskey as he watched.

"Because you're thieves. If he's hired you straight up, you would have known he was screwing somebody. Less suspicious this way" Andy explained.

"They why didn't YOU see the double cross?" Nile demanded.

"I'm an honest woman."

"Well maybe that was the fucking problem," Nile countered.

Andy shrugged.

"Maybe. But if you're interested in fixing it, I've got an idea how."

"How then?" Nicky asked.

"He's greedy, he thinks he knows everything. We get the plans back the same way I used to get stolen pieces back for the museums I consulted with. We run game on him. But we're gonna need Joe to do it."

With that, Andy strode out of the apartment, hoping that the others would follow. Behind her, she heard Nicky's voice.

"What the hell is a Joe?"

* * *

Andy winced as Joe stuttered and stumbled through Hamlet's "To be or not to be," monologue. In her peripherals, she could see Booker and Nile making similar expressions. Nicky, on the other hand, looked entranced. Interesting. They dealt with the rest of the play, and they Andy lead them out to where the alley behind the theater met the main street.

"I vote NO!" Nile hissed.

"Booker is right, Merrick knows all of our faces," Andy pointed out, striding down the alley just as a stage door opened. "Not your best!" she called.

The man, Joe presumably, looked up from rummaging in his pocket. He didn't look offended by Andy's comment, rather, his face split into a wide grin.

"Andy!" He exclaimed, joyfully.

He strode down the alley to meet her, swinging her in a wide arch. She laughed, and Nicky looked petulant as she lead Joe back to them.

"Well I thought you were brilliant." Nicky declared.

Joe turned that megawatt smile to him. "My only fan then!" he replied, something curling at the corners of his mouth as he looked Nicky over.

"So, what have you been up to Joe?" Andy asked, before this could go any further.

"I'm a citizen now, honest" He said, though he remained by Nicky's side.

"I'm not."

"You're playing my side?" Joe inquired, gleeful. "Knew you had it in you!"

Andy rolled her eyes. "You're in then?"

"I wouldn't miss this."

* * *

Joe decided that they needed popcorn to catch him up on the heist, and Nicky was all to happy to oblige as he ran around Booker's apartment as if it was his own. Once snacks and beverages had been procured, they all settled down on one of the enormous couches to run a briefing. Booker lead.

"Merrick Pharmaceuticals has their fingers in all sorts of pies. Some military supply contracts, some industrial stuff, but their main market is just good old publicly available drugs. Cancer research is a big part of that."

"I know that you didn't make any copies of the files you sent to Merrick." Andy stated.

"That would have been very wrong."

"Booker, show us the copies."

It took only a moment for him to bring them onscreen, and then Andy took over for a minute, running down the information on the new drug. Production method, side effects compared to other comparable drugs, all of the usual information. She paused when she noticed the rest of the room looking at her.

"You pick things up!" She explained.

"You pick up a lot." Nile countered.

Andy shrugged; Booker resumed talking.

"Now Merrick is big and they're rich. Jenner is a non-profit, looking at a lot of the same markets. Cancer is one of them. It's remarkable, actually. The drug is worth everything that Merrick would ask for it and more, but Jenner is willing to distribute it at cost."

"They did the work to, Merrick just copied the notes."

"Whatcha thinking Andy?" Joe inquired

"I'm thinking...Nigerians." she decided, then walked away.

Never had she claimed not to love some drama.

* * *

A couple of mornings later saw Joe in a suit and tie, waiting in the reception area of Merrick's office. He was flirting with the secretary, something that seemed to be irritating Nicky to no end, in a soft South African accent. When Merrick arrived, the secretary introduced him and Joe took his leave of her with a wink.

"Mr. Merrick. I am Andrew Gunshtot, with the African Commercial Medicine Initiative. I was hoping we might talk."

"Are you government?" Merrick asked as they headed into his office.

"No, we're a private business consortium. As access to healthcare grows in Africa, we are looking to expand access to a variety of medicines. We want to provide doctors with all of the tools they need, patients with treatment options, and companies with markets."

"Meaning?"

"We're looking to expand healthcare markets in Africa, keeping theft and the flow of fake drugs manageable."

Behind his bank of computers back in the loft, Booker was watching through the security cams with his jaw dropped.

"He's...not awful."

Andy shrugged.

"This is his stage."

"He could never be awful" Nicky countered.

Andy and Booker were spared from having to respond to that by Joe leading Merrick out of the office. Time for stage two then. Andy cued Nile through the coms, and the hitter started walking through the office just as Booker froze up the secretary's computer. As planned, she called to IT department, which Booker redirected.

"Hello, IT" Nicky greeted.

"Hi, I'm in Steven Merrick's office and my computer just totally froze."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Have you tried turning it off and then on again"

Booker fist pumped.

"I told him to say that!"

"Everyone knows that's the first thing IT asks, don't sound so proud of yourself" Nile grumbled.

She pasted a smile back on and strode through the office door just as Nicky was telling the poor woman that they had a tech on her floor already.

Meanwhile outside in the sunshine, Joe was in the process of convincing Merrick that he was looking to open up a network of hospitals in Africa, with specialized wards for various diseases. Specifically, they were talking about a location in Lagos. Merrick didn't seem convinced though.

"How do you know we're launching a new cancer drug anyways?"

"You and your head of research are both scheduled to speak at your shareholders meeting"

With the secretary distracted by Nile's IT lessons and skincare routine questions and Merrick himself out of the way, Nicky was up. He slipped in to Merrick's office through a ceiling panel, wiped the data from the laptop on the desk, and planted the bug before leaving the way he got in. Next up, Nile made her exit. One more compliment on the woman's complexion and she was out the door.

Last to wrap up was Joe. It took a lot of flattery, some bromancing, and a mention of Jenner pharmaceuticals, but he convinced Merrick to meet with his colleagues in two days. Andy and Booker bumped fists.

* * *

That night, while Booker deep dove into Merrick's financials, the rest of them lounged around the loft. Nicky and Joe were on the couch talking in a way that neither would admit was flirting, while Nile and Andy played pool. Nile spoke first.

"You don't look miserable anymore."

"Yeah, well...don't know why. Fucking people over isn't supposed to feel good."

Nile shrugged. "It does though. And technically, we are fucking over the bad guys here. Should solve some of your moral issues."

"You gonna shoot or what?"

"Sorry about what happened with Copley."

"What would you know about it?"

"Come ON. Everyone does. Everyone notices when someone like you goes off the street. How did they justify letting you go like that anyways?"

"Don't worry about it. Either shoot or go join the lovebirds on the couch."

Nile walked around the table just as Booker approached Andy to confirm his findings

* * *

The morning of the meeting with Merrick dawned bright and clear, and the first task of the day went of without a hitch. However, they hit a snafu right after when Merrick appeared a few minutes sooner that expected. Bless Nicky's habit of carrying extra harnesses wherever her went or they never would have gotten Joe down to the lobby in time.

Goodness knew they could all do without the image of Nicky getting Joe into it though. Their intermingling breaths over the coms were very nearly pornographic, and there was a suspicious noise or two as they hurtled down the stairwell together on the rig. Of course, Joe's flush as he stepped out of the stairwell could be attributed to shear adrenaline.

In any case, Joe got to Merrick just as he was typing the name of the fake company into the building directory, while Nile prepped the offices upstairs. On the elevator ride, Joe started up the grift.

"The gentleman bringing you this opportunity will expect some compensation. I did not want you to be caught unaware."

"I thought you were trying to eliminate theft?"

"Just trying to keep it manageable." Joe answered, as the elevator hit their floor.

Together, they walked out of the elevator and into the glass offices where a group of Nigerian men were waiting. Nicky joined Booker and Andy outside to enjoy the show via earpieces, waxing poetic about how well Joe had done on the zipline down.

One conversation about repurposing a factory and an exchanged envelope later saw Merrick sliding back into his town car. Joe waved him off, and once the car was gone the rest of the team came out to flank him. They walked away from the building, falling in behind Andy.

"This IS going to work right?" Nile asked.

"I guarantee it."

* * *

The shareholders meeting was the next day. Nile thought it seemed as though they were cutting it a bit close, but moving the meeting would have taken more time and resources than they currently had at their disposal.

While Merrick gave a speech to his investors about the new drug, the team slid into town cars.

Merrick soaked up applause; the team drove through the city.

Merrick answered questions; Joe greeted their Nigerian acquaintances outside of the building.

He led them in through the building, to the back patio where the wealthy investors were hobnobbing with champagne in hand. There, he split from them. Joe found Merrick just as he was wrapping up a conversation with a man in a suit.

"Well aren't you the cat that ate the canary" he greeted.

Merrick shrugged with false modesty. "I have a horrible poker face. Anyways," he redirected, noticing the Nigerian cohort at a table with their glasses, "let's take this to a conference room. I have the whole payment, and if we get this done now we can announce the partnership and make this celebration even bigger."

Joe pretended to be startled by the request, but let Merrick "convince" him.

Once they were all gathered in the conference room, Joe faded to a corner while Merrick grandstanded for a bit before calling in the FBI. To his utter shock, however, it was he who found himself in handcuffs for soliciting a bribe from foreign nationals while the agents made sure that the Nigerian men were comfortable. Joe took the opportunity to slide out the door.

Via their planted bugs, the team listened to Merrick stumble through his attempt at an explanation that Joe worked for the ACMI, only to be told that the Nigerians assumed he worked for Merrick. The signs on the office had read "Merrick Pharmecuticals" when they arrived the day before, so why would Joe work for them? Booker offered Nile a brief fist bump for her speed switching the signs between arrivals. The sound of sirens outside interrupted Merrick's stumbling explanation. He bolted out of the room. Dozens of uniformed FBI agents were streaming into the meeting.

As Merrick hit the ground floor, he began babbling about a permit problem. Higgins, the agent in charge bellowed over him, asking if anyone else had been involved in the bribe. The meeting turned to chaos, with people demanding explanations. Meanwhile, the FBI agents were reporting to Higgins about what they had already collected.

"You can't take my computer!" Merrick protested.

"Sir, you have military supply contracts. I can take whatever I please."

Andy, Nile, Joe, Nicky, and Booker were happy to slap on some jackets and help load boxes of documents into the waiting vans.

* * *

That night, Andy met with Edward Jenner, handing him the file with all of the information about the drug on it.

In the afternoon, Jenner would find a new grant set up for his company, providing funding for new research for years to come.

In between, Andy called Merrick.

"You should have just paid us!" She announced cheerfully.

"I FIGURED IT OUT!" Merrick hollered into the phone.

Andy shrugged, knowing he couldn't see her.

"Nah, you figured out what we wanted you to figure it out. Come on Merrick, you don't think we're dumb enough to leave a secret transmitter with a giant blinking light in your office right? The rest you did yourself."

"I am going to beat this." He hissed, seeming to remember that he was surrounded by agents.

"You're forgetting about the bribe Merrick."

"I Never. Took. A. Bribe." he countered, as an agent behind him pulled up a record showing that he had.

"I mean, Booker did buy a bunch of new tech with some of the money, but we got the rest where it needed to go," Andy answered as she met up with the rest of the crew. "It's truly astonishing how much money you can make off of shorting a stock when you know it's going to fall more than 30%. Whether or not you go to jail, the FBI was at that meeting and everyone saw. Obviously, if you say anything about us to any of those agents around you, we will make this so much worse."

She hung up on his spluttering to meet up with the rest of the team, pulling her check from its envelope.

"Good job, well done, never see you a-whoa."

"I'm good at what I do!" Booker exclaimed.

"This is go legit and buy a fucking island money." Nile observed.

"I guess we're out then..." Nicky said.

"Guess so." Joe that time.

"Well I've already forgotten your names" Nile declared.

She turned to stride away and the rest of the team followed suit, each person taking a different path out of the park. Andy had gone only a few steps when Booker caught up to her.

"I've never had that cool of a time on a job."

"It's a walkaway Book" she answered, realizing her mistake the second the last syllable left her lips.

"Walkaways don't get cutesy nicknames. And you've got range. I like that," Nile called her out on it of course, appearing from nowhere on the side opposite from Booker.

"Andy you're going to go nuts without something to do, I know you will and you know you will," Joe declared, and where had he come from anyways?

Her phone rang.

Nicky, using some teleportation method unknown to most humans, had managed to place himself on the bench they were approaching. He hung up the cell. Nicky winked at Joe before turning his attention to Andy.

"You pick the jobs. Make them assholes again if it makes you feel better."

Andy turned but she was surrounded. It was Joe who said it.

"Come on Andy. Find us some bad guys."

**Author's Note:**

> Please clap?
> 
> Historical note: Edward Jenner and Jenner pharmaceuticals are, of course, an homage to the inventor of the first vaccine (for smallpox) which he refused to patent so it would be easily accessible. 
> 
> I have a lot of ideas percolating for TOG right now, including a wild west one I think? And maybe a when-harry-met-sally type deal? Maybe a continuation of this? So stay tuned, and let me know if there are any you would like to see
> 
> Comments, etc. welcome


End file.
